02.03. A. The Body of Christ
A. The Body of Christ This is spoken of in several Epistles, but we shall turn first to its mention in Ephesians 1:22-23. After speaking of the resurrection of Christ from the dead and His glorification and exaltation in heaven "Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named," the apostle says that God "hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." The death, resurrection, and glorification of Christ in heaven is the foundation of the Church. There could not be such a thing as the Body of Christ till Christ was in heaven as man and as the head of the body with the work of redemption for sinful man accomplished. Before there can be a body there must be a head, so we have Christ Jesus exalted in heaven as head over all things first, then His Body was formed on earth by the Holy Spirit sent down from that glorified Head. The Church, then, is His Body on earth, His complement, which fills up or completes the mystic, glorified Man, just as Eve was necessary to the completeness of God’s thoughts as to the first Adam. As members of the Body of Christ, believers are united to Him, their blessed Head, at the right hand of God and should be heavenly as the head of the Church is heavenly. This is a very important truth, but only practical realization of union with the ascended Christ will produce this heavenly character.
Writing to the Corinthians the apostle told them by inspiration: "as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also (is) the Christ. For also in (the power of) one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bondmen or free, and have all been given to drink of one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:12-13 New Trans.). In this portion and the verses that follow the figure of the human body with its many members is used as an illustration of the Church, which, with its many individual members is one body, the Body of Christ. Though there are very many diverse parts in the human body, there is a marvelous unity throughout and the numerous members are all one body."So also is the Christ," says the apostle. Notice the words, "the Christ" which means Christ and His body, the Church. The human body, then, with its unity and yet diversity of members is a picture of Christ and His Church, the spiritual body.
Only One Body The Church of Christ is but one body, though its members are multitude, each one differing from the other, and scattered over the whole earth. "We, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another," wrote Paul to the Romans (Romans 12:5). So also he wrote to the Corinthians, "We being many are one bread, and one body" (1 Corinthians 10:17), and to the Ephesians he said, "There is one body" (Ephesians 4:4). This is the truth of God regarding His people who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ. By the one spirit they have all been baptized into one body at conversion, no matter what their nationality or race, and now they are "one body in Christ." This was a fact in the apostle’s day and it is still the divine truth today. God’s Word does not say, "There was one body," or "There shall be one body," but "There is one body." In spite of the many differing religious bodies in Christendom, God still sees His true children on earth as "one body in Christ," no matter what various bodies of earthly church organizations they may belong to or how scattered and divided they may be. This latter is to their shame, for the numerous opposing religious systems and bodies are not according to His mind or will and have no recognition before Him. What God recognizes and owns on earth is the Body of Christ and that alone is dear to Him. The many religious systems of men, with their multitudes of unregenerate, spiritually dead members, have not originated from God, but are of man’s devising and are not owned of Him. But God does own and recognize with pleasure every child of God with spiritual life within these various systems and sees them as belonging to the Body of Christ which His Spirit has formed.
Visible Unity In the days of the apostles the believers in Christ were literally one visible body on earth. God and man both could see them as one body. There were no divisions among them. All the Christians in one locality met together in one place and were in happy unity and fellowship with all the Christians and Christian gatherings elsewhere in that province and in all other countries, as the Acts and Epistles bear witness. It was thus manifest to all that these Christians everywhere were "one body in Christ," a living, working organism functioning under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.This was what God willed and directed and so it should have continued. But alas, this happy visible unity was soon marred and disrupted. Unsaved professors and perverse men crept in unawares (Jude 1:4) and the Church on earth became a great house with vessels to honor and dishonor (2 Timothy 2:19-21) . Later, divisions came in with corruptions and departures from God’s Word so that the unity of the Body of Christ was no longer seen, though still existing. The ruin, divisions, and confusion which characterize Christendom today tell how far we have departed from God’s mind and will as to there being but one body of believers.
Though this unity of the Body of Christ is not seen in our day, it is there, nevertheless, and will be seen again when the Lord gathers all His people home. And when Christ comes forth to reign on earth, the Church, which is His body, will be displayed with Him in all its wondrous unity.
Another has well said that the unity of the Body of Christ is like a chain stretched across a river. You see it on each side, but it dips in the middle giving the impression that it has given way at the center. So with the Church of Christ. It was seen to be one in the beginning and will be seen to be one by and by. It is one in God’s sight now, though the unity is not visible to mortal eyes. (C. H. M.).
Responsibility But though there are so many divisions and different religious bodies in Christendom today we are not thereby excused from our responsibility to give practical testimony to the glorious truth of the one Body of Christ and to visibly confess in action the unity of the Church of Christ. We are not only to hold the theory and truth of there being one body, but we are called upon to give a practical expression to that blessed truth in our Christian fellowship and a practical testimony against everything that denies it. To use the words of another: "The first step in confessing the unity of the Church of God is to step out of the divisions of Christendom.
Let us not stop to ask what is to be our second step. God never gives light for two steps at a time. Is it true that there is but one body? Unquestionably, God says so. Well, then, the divisions, the sects, and the systems of Christendom are plainly opposed to the mind and will and Word of God. Truly so. What are we to do? Step out of them. This, we may rest assured, is the first step in a right direction. It is impossible to yield any practical confession to the unity of the Church of God while we stand connected with that which practically denies it. We may hold the theory in the region of our understanding, while we deny the reality in our practical career. But if we desire to confess the truth of the one body, our very first business -our primary duty-is to stand in thorough separation from all the sects and schisms of Christendom.
"And what then? Looking to Jesus; and this is to continue right on to the end. Is this ... to form a new sect, or join some new body? By no means; it is but fleeing from the ruins around us to find our resource in the all-sufficiency of the name of Jesus, to keep the eye fixed on Him amid the wild watery waste, until we reach in safety the haven of everlasting rest and glory." (C. H. M.) Its Various Members
We shall now consider the various members of the Body of Christ and their functions as outlined in 1 Corinthians 12:1-31. There we read of various parts of the body, such as the foot, the hand, the ear and the eye, and of their various functions and need of each other. Then in 1 Corinthians 12:28 the apostle says, "God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." These are some of the various gifts or specific members of the body which were found in the early Church. In Ephesians 4:11 we read of Christ ascending up on high and giving gifts unto men, "some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." These, undoubtedly, are the permanent gifts found in the Church at a later date those which abide until Christ comes as Ephesians 4:13 indicates.
These special gifts and members of the body, enumerated in the above passages, are the more public and prominent members, so to speak, given "for the edifying of the body of Christ." The nature of these gifts and their functions we will consider later, when we take up the ministry of the Church. But the apostle in 1 Corinthians 12:1-31 is careful to stress the importance and need of the less honorable members of the body which are not so prominent and manifest as the above mentioned ones. No member can say to another, "I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary," says the inspired writer. "God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it" (1 Corinthians 12:24-26).
These are very practical considerations which are connected with our being members of the Body of Christ. They concern our daily life and relationships one with another in material things as well as spiritual, and we need to consider daily the practical application of the truth set forth in the above verses.
There is another important Scripture bearing upon the body and its lesser members to which we must also refer. It is Ephesians 4:15-16 : "the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." This verse reminds us that even such a small member as a joint must supply its measure from Christ the head and also that every part must work effectually if the whole body is to function properly and increase. This, we know, is definitely true in the human body and is likewise so in the spiritual Body of Christ.
Place Assigned of God
God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him" (1 Corinthians 12:18). Here we have the sovereignty of God in placing believers in the Body of Christ and giving each member a special place and function as it pleases Him. No one can choose his place or say what he wishes to do in the Body of Christ. Each one is given his place by God and fitted of Him for the performance of his special work as a particular member of the body.
We should remember that if we are given a place in the Body of Christ it means also that we are placed there for a definite purpose and for a specific work. This is the practical side of the truth and the realization of it in our souls will lead to practical manifestation of our being specific members of the Body of Christ. "To every man his work," are the words of the Lord in Mark 13:34 Head Directs Members
It follows, then, that human appointments and human aspirations for certain work and places in the Church of God are entirely wrong. No one has a right to choose to preach or teach, etc., or to appoint someone else to do so. He must be called of the Lord to this and be sure that such is his appointed place in the Body of Christ. If such is his place, he will be gifted and fitted of God for this work, and his gift will be manifest to the Church. He is responsible to the Lord to perform it in dependence upon Christ, the Head, who has called him.
It is for each one to learn from the Lord by personal communion and experience what is his or her place in the Body of Christ and what work is to be performed as such.
It is the head that directs the movements and functions of the human body and likewise it is Christ, the head of His spiritual body, the Church, who must direct the movements and work of its various members. In our bodies the control of the members by the head is through the nervous system which goes from the head to every member and part of the body. In the spiritual body this control and directing of the members by Christ, the head, is through the Holy Spirit who dwells in each member and joins all the members together and to the head in heaven. We might liken the Holy Spirit in this respect, then, to the nervous system of the human body, which is the connecting link between the head and the body. If the Spirit is ungrieved within us, He will exercise the heart as to certain service for the Lord and lead on in it under the direction of the Head of the Church. But this means that we must yield to the Spirit and not quench it.
If the reader will turn to Acts 13:1-5, he will there find an example of the directing of the Head by the Holy Spirit. As certain prophets and teachers in the Church at Antioch ministered to the Lord, "the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." The Church then expressed their fellowship with them by fasting, praying, and laying their hands upon them and sent them away. It Is then expressly added, "So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia;" etc. Such was the order then and such is God’s way for us at all times. The Body - an organism From what has been before us, it should be apparent that the Church of God is not an organization set up by man, but a living organism, composed of living members, indwelt by the living Spirit, linked to the living Head in heaven and directed and controlled by Him. Is there any difference between the two-an organization and an organism? Certainly there is. The one is a society formed by man, the latter is a living being formed by God. The book of Acts shows us the functioning of this living organism, the Church, in the days of its beginning. Energized and directed through the Holy Spirit by their Head in heaven, the various members of the body went forth and carried on the work of God without any human head or organization on earth. And all was in harmony and unity, too, unity such as is never obtained by man’s organizing and collaborations, for there is a "unity of the Spirit" which we are exhorted to keep. They proved, too, that they had a living Head in glory and that Christ is not a mere figurehead there, but a living reality and all-sufficient. He has always proved sufficient for His Church in every emergency and vicissitude throughout the centuries and will be so to the end, if only depended upon. May we prove Him thus-our all-sufficient, glorified Head in heaven. The Contrast About Us As one looks around in Christendom today, however, practically everything is seen to be in striking contrast to what we see the Church to have been in the Acts and in the Epistles where it was according to the mind of God. Instead of the functioning of a living organism, one sees church organizations everywhere, each having its head, subordinate heads, etc., with authority over others and little or nothing is known or seen of Christ as the head of the Church, directing the members through the Holy Spirit. Christ is but a mere figurehead in heaven to most, it would seem, when it comes to the practical aspect of His being the head of the Church, and the Holy Spirit as a living Person and Power on the earth is little known or counted upon. Christ and the Holy Spirit are practically supplanted by the human machinery of man’s systematized denominational organizations. And this is not only among unsaved religious professors, but amongst true believers as well, although perhaps not in the same degree.
Beloved, these things ought not to be. "What saith the Scriptures?" should be our inquiry, and we should have a "Thus saith the Lord" for all that we practice and hold. Everything that does not conform to His Word is contrary to His will and should be given up. May the Lord, the head of the Church, give reader and writer to be exercised about these precious truths connected with the Body of Christ and to practically walk in them in separation from all else which denies them.